Trump admin. moves to expand national forest logging
On Friday, April 4, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins published a secretarial memo to establish an “Emergency Situation Determination” on 112,646,000 acres of National Forestry System (NFS) land.
This memo comes roughly a month after President Trump’s executive order to expand American timber production by 25 percent. According to the memorandum, the U.S. Forest Service is being empowered to "expedite work on the ground and carry out authorized emergency actions to reduce wildfire risk and save American lives and communities." Specifically, the administration aims to increase timber outputs, simplify permitting and remove National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes in order to speed up logging efforts.
A memo to regional foresters and deputy chiefs signed by Christopher B. French, acting associate chief of USDA, outlined specific actions and "immediate" requests, including:
- Directing the Deputy Chief for the National Forest System, in consultation with other Deputy Chiefs, Regions and Forests, to develop a national strategy that outlines the agency’s goals, objectives and initial actions related to increasing active forest management. This will be completed in 30 days.
- Directing all Regional Foresters to develop 5-year strategies, tiered to the national strategy, to increase their timber volume offered, leading to an agencywide increase of 25% over the next 4-5 years. Strategies must be completed in 60 days following the release of the national strategy.
- Directing District Rangers and Forest Supervisors to, in addition to regular timber sale solicitations, utilize direct timber sale opportunities with interested purchasers operating on and around forests. Line officers with interested partners must initiate industry engagement within 60 days to integrate these opportunities into your short- and long-term programs of work.
French goes on to "direct all Line Officers to use innovative and efficient approaches to meeting the minimum requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and other environmental laws." In an attempt to peel back environmental regulations, studies and permitting, Rollins includes means such as "categorical exclusions, emergency authorities (including the secretary’s recent expanded Emergency Situation Determination), condition-based management, determinations of NEPA adequacy, and staged or tiered decision-making.
The bigger picture
According to Rollins' memo, the Forest Service manages 144 million forested acres in 43 U.S. states. Forest plans, according to the memo, identify approximately 43 million acres suitable for timber production. Over the last five years, the Forest Service has sold an average 3 billion board feet annually. That's a number the Trump administration wants to increase substantially, while in turn reducing wildfire risk and mitigating damage from insects and disease.
To learn more, read Rollins' memo here and French's full note here.
